Compare Charlotte Mason with modern classical education.
Also, book recommendations for parents interested in CM.
I get asked a lot about how Charlotte Mason and modern classical compare.
Let me say up front that I am not in any way an expert on modern classical education, and
I understand that the methods that are used can vary from person to person and group to
group.
So rather than focus on the methods, I want to take a step back and look at some of the
underlying philosophies behind the methods—the ideas that drive the methods, if you will.
I read through Dorothy Sayers essay, "The Lost Tools of Learning," which influences
much of modern classical education, and as I read I highlighted several points to compare
with Charlotte Mason's ideas laid out in her volumes.
In this video I'd like to briefly share four things I noticed.
First, it seems like Dorothy emphasizes exercising the mind.
Whereas, Charlotte emphasizes feeding the mind.
Dorothy proposed that it doesn't matter so much what you put into the child's mind as
long as he is working with it, exercising his mind on it.
"Grist for the mill" is the term that she used.
Charlotte, on the other hand, talked a lot about the mind's needing ideas to feed it.
Just as the body needs food, so the mind needs ideas to grow on.
And she emphasized the need for careful discernment in those ideas, to feed the children good,
noble, excellent ideas that will shape who they are becoming.
So, for example, rather than just giving the student a list of facts to memorize, she would
give a poem or a Scripture verse—a passage that contains ideas, not just bare facts.
The student uses his mind as he deals with those ideas, but he is continually taking
in nourishing ideas even as he works with the facts contained in them.
A second point I noticed was that Dorothy's approach to learning seems to move from parts
to whole.
The younger children study bits and pieces, and then in later years see how they fit together.
Charlotte's approach seems to be more looking at the big ideas, and then going deeper into
the parts of those ideas.
If I understand modern classical's approach correctly, the plan is to give the children
the facts and then later hang the ideas upon them.
In a Charlotte Mason approach, it's the opposite: you give the children the ideas and those
ideas bring the facts along with them.
Plus, those ideas grow and are always on the lookout for related ideas and facts that connect
and expand on them.
A third point that stood out to me was the stated goal of education.
It seems that Dorothy Sayer's overarching goal is that the child would learn how to
reason, how to think.
Charlotte Mason's goal is that the child would grow as a person.
That's a big difference.
Charlotte did talk about the Way of the Reason as one aspect of personhood, but that is definitely
not the goal of education in her approach.
In fact, Charlotte warned us to be careful of trusting too much to reason.
She pointed out that a person can reason his way into or out of anything if he wants it
badly enough.
Instead, Charlotte emphasized that we must focus on the whole person: mind, will, conscience,
habits, as well as reason.
Her goal was to see the child grow in all aspects of personhood.
And you might think, Well, of course that's the "understood" goal behind education for
everybody.
But this is where philosophy plays out in everyday life.
The goal tends to dictate how daily "school time" is used.
Is that time, and the selected materials and methods, used to nurture all of the aspects
of the person, or does the school time and materials and methods mainly address only
one or two aspects of the child?
That's how philosophy drives methods.
It's interesting to think about.
The fourth point that caught my attention between Dorothy Sayer's philosophy and Charlotte
Mason's philosophy is in how they present material to students as they move through
the grades.
It seems like Dorothy's suggestion of marrying the trivium concept with children's developmental
stages could have a tendency to lean toward more of a segmented approach to learning;
give this stage one piece, then the next piece at the next stage, until at the end the child
has the whole thing.
Memorize, then think about the Whys, then express your ideas.
Whereas Charlotte's approach seems to be more across the board, if you will.
She recognized that even young children want to know Why, are capable of deep thoughts,
and are eager to express their ideas.
So I picture the difference as, instead of compartmentalizing, we spread complete layers,
building up as we go, but always taking into account the whole person.
We spread a generous feast of ideas for all the children at all ages.
So there you have some of the things I noticed while reading "The Lost Tools of Learning."
Now, let me add that in pointing out these differences, it is absolutely not my intent
to drive wedges between people or to stir up strife or division.
Not at all.
I am simply trying to narrate some of my observations in response to someone's question.
There are several homeschool approaches to pick and choose from.
What is most important is that each family finds the one that fits them best.
I encourage you to think through the philosophies behind the methods and materials that you
are considering or that you are currently using.
Embrace the ones that are consistent with your own goals—your own heart—for your
children.
I am so thankful that we have the freedom to do that!
We're really all in this together, as homeschool parents, and I have no doubt that we are all
seeking to do what we think is best for our children.
I hope we can encourage each other along the way.
The second part of this question asked me to recommend some books for parents who are
interested in learning more about Charlotte Mason.
We have some free e-books available on our website at simplycharlottemason.com
Look in the Bookstore under Free Resources and you can download them.
Getting Started in Homeschooling talks more about the different approaches to homeschooling
and how they compare to Charlotte Mason.
Education Is . . . outlines Charlotte's methods for each school subject.
(By the way, if you look for the Learning Library on our site, you will find hundreds
of articles that elaborate on those methods also.)
Then two books that I always recommend, because they helped me get started twenty years ago:
A Charlotte Mason Education, by Catherine Levison, is a practical how-to manual with
short easy-to-read chapters.
A Charlotte Mason Companion is Karen Andreola’s classic work brimming with practical how to’s
plus friendly support and inspiration to see them through.
I hope you'll find them helpful.